1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to condensers.
This application is based on Japanese Patent Application No. 2008-236568, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of Related Art
In general, after a steam turbine is driven, moisture contained in the steam discharged from the steam turbine is condensed in a condenser and is collected as condensate water.
Groups of cooling pipes, through which cooling water flows, are disposed in the above-described condenser. The steam introduced into the condenser is cooled and condensed by the cooling water flowing through the cooling pipe groups (for example, see the Publication of Japanese Patent No. 3907894).
While the condensate water resulting from the condensation of the steam as described above is collected from the bottom of the condenser, residual steam after condensation and non-condensable gas, such as air, are guided from an air extracting portion to a vacuum pump disposed outside the condenser.
More specifically, the steam discharged from the steam turbine flows in between the cooling pipe groups of the condenser, is cooled by heat exchange with the cooling water, and is then condensed on the surfaces of the cooling pipes.
The residual steam and non-condensable gas, such as air, flow through inner steam paths formed in the cooling pipe groups, pass through an air cooling portion, and flow into the air extracting portion. Thus, the steam flows smoothly in the cooling pipe groups.
As described above, the condensate water condensed on the surfaces of the cooling pipes falls in the inner steam paths. Then, the fallen condensate water adheres to the cooling pipe groups that are disposed at the lower part of the inner steam paths and discourages the steam from cooling. In other words, there were problems in that an improvement in the steam-condensing performance in the condenser was discouraged.
The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and an object thereof is to provide a condenser having improved condensation performance.